Registrar hands over suspicious voter forms

SANTA ANA - The Orange County Registrar of Voters on Friday submitted dozens of suspect voter-registration cards to investigators for possible criminal prosecution.

Acting Registrar Neal Kelley's action capped a week of revelations about suspicious registrations coming from a Republican-funded drive during the last few months.

The county GOP, which was working on increasing voter numbers in the traditionally Democratic central county, blames the problems on three paid workers who have been fired.

Most of the 86 voters who have complained to officials are Democrats whose party affiliation was changed to Republican without their knowledge. The majority of questionable cards were gathered by Christopher Dinoff, 30, of Riverside, who has been fired.

Altering a voter-registration card is a felony punishable upon conviction by prison time or fines.

Frank Barbaro, county Democratic chairman, said he hopes the registrar looks at all the registrations gathered by Dinoff since he started the job in September.

"It's refreshing that the registrar has finally attempted to investigate what has been happening and it's extent," Barbaro said.

Kelley turned over the suspicious cards to the Orange County District Attorney's office and to investigators with the Secretary of State, which earlier this week announced its own probe. The district attorney and the secretary of state will work together on the investigation, said Susan Schroeder, the district attorney's spokeswoman.

The political-party changes appear unsophisticated. Kelley said in some cases, the box indicating "Democrat" had been marked, then crossed out, and the Republican box checked. Or, the Republican box was circled and the Democrat box was crossed out.

With 86 questionable cards among the 52,546 registrations done since September, Kelley said he believes the problems "seem isolated, which is good." If more suspicious cards turn up, Kelley will also turn those over to authorities, he said.